Teradata

HP Quality Center is quality management software offered from the HP Software Division of Hewlett-Packard with many capabilities acquired from Mercury Interactive Corporation.[1] HP Quality Center offers software quality assurance, including requirements management, test management and business process testing for IT and application environments. HP Quality Center is a component of the HP Application Life cycle Management software solution set. (Taken from Wiki)

I have been working in QC right from version 9.0 to 11.0. There are so many key functionalities added to the new version.
I hope most of them worked in Quality Centre as a Management Tool. Here I will explain for those who want to learn QC and its modules.

QC is a web tool, user can access from anywhere but only in INTRANET (specific to your company we). You cannot access outside of your company. Projects will be created and by QC Admins and the access to the projects will be given by QC Admins as per your Role. Quality Center has so many functionalities and a user cannot access all of them and can use most of them based on the access given.

If you are a Test Analyst, you will not have access to delete any entity that’s created folder level.

If you are a Test Analyst you will not have access to move the defects from Analysis status to retest status.

If you are a Developer you will only have access to move the defects from Analysis status to retest status.

If you are a Test Lead / Dev Lead , you will have most of the access

If you are a Test Manager you will have access to all the functionalities existing in Dashboard module

Logging into Quality Center:

Use the URL (Web Link)

Login Name – Enter your User Id (Mostly Windows Login user Name)

Password – Enter your password (You will be entitled to a Default password @ the time of user id creation and you can change the password by Tools à Customize à Change Password.

After entering User Name and Password and Check the Authentication of your user name and password by clicking Authentication button.

After Clicking it, it will show the Domain and Project Name that is assigned to you, If you are assigned to more than one project the use the drop down and select the Project that you wanted to work.

You can change the project from the QC Home Screen (Top Left Corner) Change project.

Module 1à Dashboard Module:

In Dashboard Module user can see two types of View, Analysis and Dashboard View. Analysis view can be used to get the reports for the particular Test Sets, Defects from particular Test Sets and Reports from particular project. Dashboard views will be used by the Test Managers, and they can create a report across programme level. In each View you will have two folders, Public and Private. If you create any Reports under Private then it’s visible to the creator only but if you create a report in Public then it’s visible to all the users who are accessed to the Domain and the Project.

1. Analysis View

In this user can create a Graphical Report or Standard Report. There is a button (+), if you click you can see

Graph Wizard, New Graph, New project Report, New Excel Report and New Standard Report. Click on the type of the report that you wanted and choose where you wanted to post the report either in Private or in Public.

Now I am using New Graph functionality.

Click on New Graph (Under Private section)

Upon clicking you will get a New Window where you need to select1.

Entity (Defects, Tests etc.,)

Graph Type (Progress , Age, Summary, Trend)

Graph Name (Project Name – User Specific)

After creating the Test Report, you can see the Project Name that you have created under the Private Section. (Left Side of the tool)

Click on the Project then check your right hand side, you can see 3 tabs, Details, Configuration and View.

Details tab – the use can’t edit anything, its auto populates the values that we had given when created the project.

Configuration tab – this is the place that we need set up what we need in the report.

X- Axis – Choose from the drop down what you need to see in the X- Axis

Y- Axis – Choose from the drop down what you need to see in the Y- Axis

Grouped by – Choose the entity by which the X-Axis and Y-Axis needs to be grouped by

And you can see a button Filter (Funnel Symbol) click on that then you will get a Pop up window where you need to set the target folder from where you get the data for the Graph.

In that window you will have Filter and Cross filter tabs. Choose Cross Filter tab and you can see different sections like Defects, Test Sets, Requirements etc,

Choose the Entity that you need, right now I want to show to my lead how many test cases that I have executed over a period of time so I will choose Test Set section.

Under Test Set section you will have 3 radio button, click on the radio button that shows next to None radio button.

At the end of the text box you will have (…) 3 dots. Click on it. It will take you to the Test Lab where you can see all the Test Sets created under a given domain.

Select the Test Set that you want from the Test Set tree.

And Click Ok now Click on View you can see the Graphical representation of the data that you have in your Test Lab.

By Clicking Data Grid on View tab you can see the data in Numbers.

Module 2 > Management Module:

Management module will allow the Test Managers or Test Leads to set up the Cycle Start and Cycle End date to the given Test Set in Test Lab. A user can’t access a Test Set after the Cycle End date. This module can give the data to drive the Test Metrics related to Effort.

Module 3 > Requirements Module:

Business requirements are captured in this module. You can add the actual business scenarios or you can add the test conditions as requirements. You can add requirements by simple clicking the Add New Requirement button or you can upload using the Excel upload add in manager.

By capturing the Testable requirements we can achieve the requirement traceability. Suppose if you are testing a log in screen then you will set up a test condition as

‘Verify the Login Screen is working as expected by giving valid user name and password’

This test conditions can be furthermore explained in detail steps under Test Plan module.

The key points that we need to maintain when setting up the Test Conditions are

We need to set the Priority to each test conditions

We need to write the meaning full test condition name

We need to choose the correct requirement type from the drop down box (Right top most corner)

Author name will be auto populated from your Login credential (if I logged in then my name will be populated as Author name)

You can’t delete a created Test Requirement whereas you can Cut and Paste into Recycle Bin folder. (Requirement, Test Plan and Test Lab modules will have the Recycle Bin to keep the rubbish contents)

The created Test Conditions will be mapped to Test Cases from the Test Plan module. If you have not mapped then you can see Direct Cover Status as Not Covered, if you have mapped but not executed then you can see it as Not Completed, you have executed the Test Case if the test case is Passed or Failed then you can see it in Direct Cover Status.

We can simply add a Test Case using New Test button or we can write the test cases in spread sheet and upload it into QC using QC Excel Add in Manager.

The key points that we need to maintain when setting up the Test Plan are:

Click on the New Test button , you can see a window opened

Enter a Valid test name, mostly it should match with the name that we had given for test conditions

Select the type of the test that we are performing (right top most corner)

If you see any sections are marked as Red then it’s a mandatory column and you need to enter the value.

Select the SDLC phase from drop down box like System Test, E2E Test, Regression Test etc

Select the Priority from the drop down box, this priority should match with the priority that we had given for Test Conditions.

Select the Test Type from drop down , what kind of testing that you are doing, like Functional or Non Functional etc.,

Capability mostly Do Not Know

Select the Application that you are going to work in and this will be pre-defined by the QC Admin team

When you are creating the Test Case please keep the Reviewed question as Not Reviewed and assign the Reviewer name.

Once you save the Test Case the Auto Email will be sent to the Reviewer.

Now reviewer will be reviewing the test case and will set the status as Reviewed.

Under the Description Section we need to enter the following details, these details will be pre-defined by the QC Admin team and will be populated to all the resources associated to the domain.

Objective:

Description:

Pre-Requisites/Data Setup:

Expected Results:

We have set up the Test Case, now we need to map this Test Case to the Test Conditions. To do that please Click on the Test Case name from the left side pan so that you can see the below mentioned tabs on your right side

Summary – All the details related to that test cases (what we had given when creating) will be populated

Design Steps – will have the Details steps that will be performed on the Test Conditions

Parameters – the data that needs to be passed for Automation Frameworks

Test Configuration – auto populates the values

Attachments – if you like to add any documents that related to this particular scenario you can add under this tab

Requirement Coverage – from this tab we can search the Test Requirement (test conditions) that related to the test case and drag and drop using Select Requirement button

Linked Defects – Defects can be attached to Test Case or to Test Steps. So the attached Defects will be shown under this tab

Dependency – This tab is used for Automation tests, where you need to create dependency between different modules.

PS: After mapping the Test Conditions to Test Cases please go to Requirement module and check the Direct Cover Status, if the Status is Covered then leave it else Refresh it reflect the status.

Test Lab

We have set up the Test Conditions and Test Cases and linked them now we need to pull them into Test Lab and make them available to Test Execution.

Before pulling the Test Cases into Test Lab, please create a Test Set folder using New Test Set button. By Clicking it you will be getting a window where we need to enter the logical test set name.

Now we have created the Test Set and pull the test cases into test lab by going to Execution Grid tab in the Test Lab module and Click Select Tests this will take you to Test Plan module where you browse the test cases that you wanted to move.

Pull all the test cases that you wanted. All the modules in QC you will have the Select Columns button to customize the details that you wanted to display in the Screen, so play across the needed columns and make them available in your screen.

The key points that we need to maintain when setting up the Test Lab are:

Running the Test Case

You have Run button to execute the test case. In Run we will have Run With Manual Runner and Continue Manual Run.

By simply clicking Run will lead you to Run with Manual Runner option. Now you can see the test steps that are written in Test Plan module.

To pass the Test Case, we can click CTL+P to fail the Test Case CTL+F. Please attach a Test Evidence for each Test Case that you are executing.

Do not execute the test cases more than one, if you do then it will create an Instance for each time that you are executing this will annoy your test reports

If you kept a Test Step as Not Completed for any reason @ first time of execution and you wanted to execute that particular test step then choose Continue Manual Run under RUN tab.

If you are failing a Step then you can create a Defect from Test Plan module.

After failing the Defect, go to Linked Defects tab and Click Add (+) button it will take you to defect module from there you can create defect and it automatically linked to that particular step.

If you are keeping a Test Case as Not Applicable then you need to attach a Evidence why this test cases are chosen as Not Applicable

If you are keeping a Test Case as Deferred then you need to attach a Evidence why this test cases are chosen as Deferred

Module 5 > Defects

Defects can be added from Test Plan module or from Defect Module. If a Defect is attached to a test cases then please do link the test case to this defect. You can raise an Orphan defects without linking them to any test cases.

Go to defect module and click Add Defect button then you will get a window where we need to input the defect details.

Summary – Brief description about defects

There are few columns will be auto populated as per the QC configuration

When we raise the Defects it will be in New Status as per the Defect Life Cycle

Defect Type – We need to select the defect type from the drop down like Application Code, Requirement Defect etc.,

Discovery Phase – We need to select on which phase the defect is Injected like System Test, UAT, E2E etc.,

And there will be more than 10 mandatory fields that we need to enter as per the project specific details.

Description – Testers needs to give the detailed description about the defect in Description section

Closed – (when the defect is retested and closed by the testers – once you closed the defect we can’t modify the defect.

Note: User can’t jump from one status to another status by by-passing one status in between.

Setting up the Priority and Severity to the Defects:

Do you remember we have kept Priority to a Test Requirement when we have created in Requirement module? I have raised a Defect that related to the Test Case which was set to Priority Low then keep Defect priority as Low.

Test Environment (System Test / SIT / E2E / UAT) – where the developed code will be deployed for testing

Setting up a Test Environment for Business Intelligence project is critical because the data for different level of testing is different. Developers will develop the ETL code in DEV (development) environment and when the testing phase kicks of they will point their codes to Testing environments.

Why we need a separate environment?

1. ACCESS and Test Environment

Because Developers are the one who designs the code and they will keep on changing the code until it works. We don’t have the version control in Data Stage or in Teradata. The development environment is the open space for all the Developers involved and there are high possibility of irregular updates on the code so the DEV environment is loosely controlled. Developers will have INSERT / UPDATE / DELETE access to all the designs in DEV and Test Environments. But testers will have only VIEW access on VIEWS (will explain what is Table and View in my next blog). Tester can only verify the data is as per ETL Code , they cant update any record to make them correct as per requirement. And developers also should agree what ever defects found in our environment should be open in DEV environments.

2. Data and Test Environments

Data that used for Developing the code should be different to the data is used for testing why because developers used to create Test Data for UNIT testing, they are happy when the functionality is working fine as expected. So they are not interested source data quality. If any data causing trouble to them , they simply delete it and load the rest of the data. But testers should be very conscious about the data because data is the key for us to proceed the testing. So testers should have their own data in their own Environment. They should not depend on the source data that relies on Development environment.

What all components needs access for a Tester ?

1. File Landing Directory – If your project is File to Table load then Source system will send the Files to a specified location. This location is different for both Development and Testing. Testers should get the access to this Directory.

2. Select ACCESS to Source Views – Tester can easily check whether they have Select access to the tables by simply querying the tables.If you are not having access to the tables then please create a Grants statement and send to your DBA.

[GRANT SEL ON DB_Name to User_ID;]

Good practice availing the access:

A tester should run his queries in Views not in Tables, so Leads should make sure that the testers should not have Select access to tables before they start execution.

Developers are creating Views over the tables, and when they deploy the code into PRODUCTION their code will points to the VIEWs not TABLEs.

Developers might have introduced few filter statements in Views in order to stop duplicates, which might cause errors. Suppose if testers are tested the Target data using Tables then the errors related to Views could not be identified.

Testers should not have Insert, Update, Delete access to Source and Target tables.

Testers should have Create table access on Test Database for manufacturing data (will be explained in Test Data Management Blog)

Availability of the Source Data in Test Environment:

If the data load is into Existing warehouse tables then check the historical data is available in the Test environment by simply selecting the table. If there no records in test environment then request developer to copy sample records from PRODUCTION data into Test Environment.

[INSERT INTO TEST_DB.TABLE SEL * FROM PROD_DB.TABLE SAMPLE 1000;]

Q: Why we should have existing data into Test Environment if it is load into existing table?

A: Because our load into existing should not be delta records for the existing records. This can be verified using the record count before and after the load – the count existing count should not be disturbed.If the data load is into new warehouse tables then the tables should not contain any data in the Test Environment.

Q: Why we should not have any data New target tables?

A: Because these tables do not exist in PRODUCTION and we are the one going to load the data into these tables.So it should not contain any data.

Reference Tables in Test Environment

MAP and TYPE tables are used for Referential Integrity. A project can use the existing MAP or TYPE tables or theycan create their own based on the project requirement

Testers should verify all the MAP and TYPE tables mentioned in the S2T (even if it is not used in S2T transformation) are created in the Test Environment

If the MAP or TYPE table exists then the testers should verify the data in Test Environment and PROD environment should be same.

If the MAP or TYPE tables are created project specific then testers should verify the data is inserted correctly as per the Insert statements provide in S2T

Tester should cross the values inserted into MAP and TYPE tables are matching with DDS (refer Appendix section for Reference data). If you find any data missing or added in the table please raise defect to Data designer.

Now we have everything in our Environment 🙂 Now we are going for Validation of Specification on next Blog.